Nelly Furtado is sending a strong message.
Earlier this year, the singer debunked surgery rumors and clapped back at body-shamers.
Now, she’s at it again.
This time, however, she didn’t have to utter a word.
Nelly Furtado is sporting a unique look that sends a pretty clear message
On Sunday, August 24, Nelly Furtado performed at Manchester Pride.
She wore a shirt that featured a facsimile of a human body drawn on it, with a shirt riding up and part of a bra visible.
The look of the ‘fit, in conjunction with the toned abs and low-riding jeans, hearken back to Furtado’s look from nearly 20 years ago — which, incidentally, is when several of her phenomenal hits took the world by storm.
✨ | Nelly Furtado shares a new photo. She is looking flawless! pic.twitter.com/YQ8H26mAqQ
— Nelly Furtado Portugal (@NellyFurtadoPt) August 26, 2025
The shirt is in some ways akin to those aprons that depict a super buff body or even a depiction of Michelangelo’s David. This is just a much more personalized version.
However, Furtado may also be once again addressing body-shaming weirdos. She has been an outspoken advocate of body neutrality.
Body positivity works well for some — but for others, “all bodies are beautiful” can ring hollow. Body neutrality is, in simple terms, “this is my body and I live in it.”
One doesn’t need to hate or love one’s flesh prison to exist. She’s so real for that.
And yes, Nelly Furtado is still relevant
“Maneater” and “Promiscuous Girl” dominated the airwaves and rewired our brains nearly two decades ago.
(And let’s not forget my personal favorite, “Try.” It will make you sad about and nostalgic for things that have never even happened)
However, say what you will about TikTok — it is a garbage app that makes our society worse — but it has introduced The Youths to music that they might never have heard otherwise.
That includes Furtado’s hits.
“If there’s one thing about Gen Z, it’s that they’ll know every single word to a TikTok song,” Furtado captioned on Instagram. “Even if it came out before they were born.”
It’s true that only the eldest of Gen Z are old enough to rent a car, and most were born after her biggest hits. (I mean, depending upon when you divide the generations. The “generations” as we know them are pretend)
However, good music is transcendent.
The knowledge that 19-year-olds today are too young to have listened to her hits from 2006 because they were literal babies is enough to make us feel geriatric, but it’s nice that they’re enjoying a bop when they hear one.
What message is Nelly Furtado sending?
To be blunt, people have been body-shaming Nelly Furtado for having a different figure than she did in 2006. Which sucks.
She seems to be parodying the image that these trolls expect her to have.
Many things in our society are worse than they were 20 years ago. Our nation is in the grips of a fascist regime, inflation has outpaced income even further, and there’s no end in sight to the horrors.
But one of the things that has improved is how society regards the human body.
There is a lot of body-shaming, but less than there was when Furtado rose to fame. Also, people are better equipped to clap back at trolls, now.